Programs That Work: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty and Transforming Lives

As executive director of Women’s Emergency Network for 12 years, I had the privilege of getting to know extraordinary non-profit organizations working with some of Miami’s most disadvantaged members.  These are small organizations with small budgets.  Yet they are making a profound impact on the lives they touch.  Theirs are stories that need to be told.

The programs you will read about on this blog are transforming the lives of children living amidst drugs and dysfunction; teens destined to perpetuate the cycle of early pregnancy, incomplete education, and enduring poverty; women in desperate straits, many single mothers with children.  All the programs are different, and yet they share several common characteristics:  They offer skills, support, and a sense of security. They build self esteem.  They provide hope for the future.  And most of all, they offer their participants qualities that many had not experienced before:  devotion, reliability and trust.

I write these stories as a reminder that with vision, determination and hard work, the impossible often becomes possible.    I hope the inspiring programs you read about on this blog will motivate you to get to know them better.  Maybe to become involved.  Maybe to send them a donation.   Maybe to replicate them.  If nothing else, I hope they feed your soul and strengthen your conviction that a better world is in our own hands.